Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

After obtaining the equipment.

Fanes: I'll fucking free you right now!

-

Phanes and Akoda stood at the entrance to the angel's gift, hesitated for about three seconds, and then silently withdrew.

The strong smell of alcohol wafting out from the crack in the door was so intense it could make someone faint on the spot. It was a mixture of malt and fermented fruit, and when it entered Fanes's nose, he felt as if a bucket of aged liquor had been poured over his head.

Fanes took three steps back and vigorously fanned the air in front of him, then turned to look at Yakoda, who was also covering her nose.

Yakoda's cat-ear hat seemed to collapse from the stench. She coughed twice, her voice muffled, "Boss... this smell is even stronger than the industrial alcohol in winter... do we really have to go in and experience it?"

Fanes shook his head decisively: "No, no. Let's go somewhere else."

So they bought two cups of fresh milk, a specialty of Mondstadt, from a roadside stall. The warm, milky aroma contrasted sharply with the smell of alcohol.

Fanes walked along, sipping his cup. The rich, sweet milk flavor slid down his throat, making him feel warm and cozy. Yakoda sipped her straw with gusto, her bright eyes crinkling into crescent moons, looking utterly content.

After finishing the last sip of milk, Yakoda threw the empty cup into a roadside trash can. "Boss, I heard there are lots of beautiful wild scenery outside Mondstadt! Shall we go for a walk? Anyway, Rosalyn said we can be back before evening, so it's still early."

Fanes glanced at the bright sun overhead, thought about the Mora he still had in his pocket, and then about the sumptuous dinner he had at the Goethe Hotel the night before. He felt he really should move around more to aid digestion, otherwise his six-year-old body would probably grow wider if he just ate without exercising.

Fanes nodded, and the two walked out along the main road leading to the city gate of Mondstadt.

The wind outside Mondstadt was much stronger than inside, making the roadside grass undulate like waves. Akoda skipped ahead, her light golden hair a mess in the wind, but she didn't care. Her goggles clattered softly around her neck.

Fanes followed behind her, stepping on his own shadow. The warm sunlight shone on his back, so comfortable that he squinted his eyes and almost wanted to take a nap right there.

Just as his eyelids were about to close, Yakoda suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Boss, there's something over there."

Fanes looked in the direction she pointed—not far ahead, at the bottom of a gentle slope, stood several crooked, coarse cloth tents, with a nearly extinguished campfire burning in the middle. Several masked Hilichurls carrying wooden sticks were circling around the fire, making indistinct whimpering noises.

The camp wasn't large, with about four or five Hilichurls, and a Rock Helm King was tethered nearby, dozing on the ground.

Fanes and Jakoda exchanged a glance. Their brainwaves instantly connected, and their conclusions were surprisingly consistent—take a detour.

It's better to avoid small-scale Hilichurl camps than to provoke them. They're not here on a bandit-slaying mission; picking a fight with a bunch of Hilichurls is just asking for trouble.

Fanes tugged at Lajakoda's sleeve, and the two of them crouched low, slowly retreating along the bushes on one side, their steps light and deliberate.

Just as they were about to leave the danger zone, a green figure suddenly darted out from some corner and approached them from behind at an extremely precise and startling angle.

"Hey! What a coincidence, we meet again!"

Fanes felt a chill run down his spine. He turned his head and saw the face he had just seen under the statue of the wind god was less than half a foot away from him. The dark green eyes were curved like two inverted crescent moons, and there was a smug smile on the corner of his mouth that said, "I did this on purpose."

Wendy, carrying her lyre and clutching a half-finished glass of apple juice, suddenly fluttered down onto a passerby's head like a bird that had been perched on a treetop for half a day.

Before Fanes could even curse, Yakoda instinctively jumped up, her hand hovering in mid-air, ready to strike. But just as her wrist reached its highest point and before it could fall, a commotion arose from the Hilichurl camp.

The Hilichurls who had been circling the fire all stopped what they were doing, their faces beneath their masks turning in unison towards the bushes. One of them was still clutching a half-burnt stick, the sparks at the tip flickering in the wind, like some kind of "target detected" signal.

"Depend on!"

Fanes grabbed Jakoda's wrist. "Forget about this drunkard! Let's go!"

Yakoda promptly withdrew her hand and turned to run after Fanes. Wendy called out a short "Hey, wait for me!" from behind, then trotted after them, her robes flapping in the wind.

The three of them ran wildly towards Whispering Woods, the shouts of Hilichurls chasing after them and the dull thuds of sticks hitting trees echoing behind them. Fainness's short legs were practically flying; he felt like his lungs were about to leap out of his throat.

After running for a while, they finally lost track of the pursuers behind them.

The three of them hid in a large, leafy tree in the Whispering Forest. Fañes leaned against the trunk, panting heavily, while Akoda squatted on a branch with wide, starry eyes. Wendy, on the other hand, was half-hanging from a nearby branch with his lyre, seemingly not tired at all.

After catching his breath, Fanes glared at Venti: "You drunkard, stay away from me! Nothing good ever comes of running into you! We're perfectly fine in Liyue, but the moment we bump into you, we get chased for miles by Hilichurls!"

Wendy opened her mouth as if to say something, but before she could utter a single word, she was speechless.

Yakoda had already moved over the tree branch without saying a word, and cleanly raised one foot to kick Wendy in the back.

Wendy flipped off the tree branch, instinctively protecting the lyre in her arms while in mid-air. She landed with a thud and a plaintive "Ouch!"

After kicking the person, Yakoda jumped down from the tree without changing her expression and patted the bark scraps off her hands.

Fanes slid down the tree trunk, and when his feet touched the ground, he suddenly felt that the soil under his feet felt a little strange—the soil here was much softer than in other places, and there were obvious signs that it had been disturbed, as if someone had recently dug something up here and buried it back.

Fanes, curious, squatted down and began to dig at the loose soil with his hands. After a few strokes, his fingers touched something hard. He quickened his pace and pushed away the loose soil, revealing a wooden box half-buried in the ground.

The box wasn't big, and its surface was painted with bright red and white paint. A cute, round pattern was painted on the front of the lid.

"Dudu?" Fanes tilted his head.

Wendy got up from the ground, brushed the dirt off his robe, and came over to take a look. A hint of surprise flashed in his dark green eyes: "Huh, this looks like a treasure chest left by Iris. She used to bury these things near Mondstadt as Easter eggs for adventurers."

Fanes opened the lid of the box. Inside, neatly stacked rows of round objects—each about the size of a fist, with a hard, red and white outer shell, a short string on top, and a chubby, smiling face printed on the bottom.

Fanes picked one up and examined it from all angles, feeling that it looked somewhat familiar.

"This is... a bouncing bomb?" he muttered to himself.

Wendy leaned closer and nodded: "The enhanced version. Aerith told me before that she left a batch of specially made bouncing bombs in Mondstadt, three times more powerful than the regular ones. But she forgot exactly where she buried them after she buried them, and I didn't expect you to find them."

Fanes stared at the row of bouncing bombs in the crate, remaining silent for two seconds. Then he looked up, his gaze piercing through the treetops of Whispering Forest, and glanced in the direction of the Hilichurl camp he had just seen.

"That wretched Hilichurl, I'll help them... get rid of it now."

Yakoda had already picked up the treasure chest, her eyes practically sparkling. Wendy stood two steps away, watching the two children, one holding a bomb and the other carrying a whole box of bombs, and silently moved her lyre behind her.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tree canopy, casting dappled shadows on the ground. Fanes stood beside the treasure chest filled with bombs, squinting at the distant Hilichurl camp, already plotting how to sneak up to the camp undetected and deliver all the good stuff there in one go.

Fanes turned and nodded to Yakoda: "Let's go. Let those Hilichurls know what a surprise is."